Portland Gay Mens Chorus Inc

Membership: historically, more than 1,700 people from within the community have been members of the chorus. While the pandemic greatly curtailed the organization's membership, the chorus grew from 110 to over 190 active members. Members of the portland gay men's chorus do not have to be from portland, gay, male, nor sing in the chorus. Pgmc is proud to be able to say that its membership continues to represent a full spectrum of diversity and is fully representative of the community as a whole. The bylaws, since inception, have stated: "anyone shall be eligible for membership in the chorus, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, national origin, marital or veteran's status, or disability." (continued on sch o)pgmc's members come from all walks of life, including nationally, ethnically, politically, spiritually, musically, and vocationally. Members have come from many countries including china, india, indonesia, japan, singapore, taiwan, vietnam, panama, peru, france, germany, ireland, and even canada. Members of the chorus participate in the following activities: monday weekly rehearsals, an annual retreat, and between 4 to 6 all-day rehearsals each year. Financial assistance to members with limited means for dues and retreat is awarded on a need basis. In 2024, the chorus was able to take over 100 singers to the quadrennial gala chorus festival, to perform in minneapolis, mn. Over 8,000 singers and 200 choruses were present and pgmc was considered one of the "go-to" choruses of the three-day festival.

Outreach: through pgmc's community outreach efforts, audience members have learned about overcoming homophobia, made the life-changing decision to come out, developed positive personal identities, and addressed issues relating to hiv prevention. This season, the chorus supported our new conductor's first fully planned season, a new associate artistic director and a new executive director, with over 30 years arts administration experience. The chorus also supported the portland and vancouver pride events, and shared stories at concerts of being gay, trans, and finding love in unexpected places. The chorus is dedicated to reaching the broadest audience by providing speakers/performers at schools or non-profit events and, when possible, performing special concerts throughout oregon. (continued sch o)members have spoken or performed at schools, universities, civic groups, and national conferences.and in recent years, the chorus has performed outreach concerts in over 14 communities throughout oregon and washington. Occasionally, the chorus will perform in the portland metropolitan area for lgbt and lgbt-supportive events that are consistent with our mission. Outreach events are typically produced by local nonprofit organizations and all the proceeds from these events are returned to those local nonprofit organizations. Although pgmc receives more outreach requests than it can accommodate, the chorus schedules on average three to four outreach events in a season, between october and june.